Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1887-01-21

|
known members of fashionable So
ciety, rich, not young, and married
only the year before-the lady having
been three years q widow.
They were not known to have had
any enemies-the bodies had not been
robbed. It appears that they had
both been stabbed with some long,
pointed instrument, and then flung
from the bank into the river
The inquest has not brought out
! any fresh facts. The boatmen of the
| neishborhood were questioned in vain,
and the authorities were on the point
OF abandoning the investigation when
young cabinetmaker of the neighbour
ing village, named George Louis. and
nicknanled lie Bourgeois, "voluntari-
ly gave himself up as the murderer.
In reply to various questions asked. >.
he answered only this:
II knew the man for two years;
knew the woman only for six months
past. They used often come to get
me to mend old furniture for them, be-
cause l am a good hand ut the bust
ness:
And when they asked him:
s'What did you kill them for?''
He replied, obstinately:
81 killed them because l wanted to-
kill them"
Nothing further could be got out of
him. The man was OF Legitimate
birth no doubt; as child he had been
first LETT in the care Of a paid nurse in
the country, and hadEeen subsequent
10 abandoned by his palents. Hehad
no other real name than George Lou
is, but. as he grew up, he proved to
be a remarkably intelligent boy, with
naturally fine tastes and good man
ners, and his comrades had, therefore,
nicknamed him 1.-THE Bourgeois" by
| which name alone he became subse-
quently known. He had the reputa-
tion OF being remarkably skillful at
the trade of cabinetmaker, which he
had adopted. He was even able to
do some wood carving. He was also
said to be very excitable in his dispo-
sition-a believer in communistic and
also Nihilistic great read
err Of sensational novels. and tragical
light literature; also man of some
influence at elections, and u frst-rate
stump orator at workingmens meet.
ings or political gatherings Of farmers.
The counsel for the. defence had
pleaded insanity.
How, indeed, was it possible that
this workman could have knowingly
killed his best customers-rich and
generous customers, as the prisoner
himself had admitted-customers who
hadgiven him more than 3 900 francs
worth Of work to do in tine last three.
years there were his books to prove
it,? There was only one explanation
possible-insanity-the insanity caus-
ed by the long haunting Of one persist
ent idea-the idea OF dectasse, the
man who deems himself social out
cast, and who avenges himself on two
bourgeois OF all the bourgeois. Here
the lawyer made u skilful allusion to
the nickname Of LIE Bourgeois given by
the country people to this founding,
and be cried out:
rs not the very name an irony land
an irony we'll calculated to intensity
still more the nervous exaltation OF
this fatherless and motherless boy?
He is an ardent Republican. Nay
what do | say? He belongs to that
very same political party which the
republic shot down or transported for
life in former days, but to which she
opens her welcoming arms to-day
the party of those with whom incen-
diaranism is q principle, and muir.
der the most ordinary Of political
methods.
''Those atrocious doctrir1es-public-
ly proclaimed to-day at mass meet
ings-are the cause OF this mans ruin.
He heard Republicans--yes, he even
heard women, wO1nen!-clamorf for the
blood Of NJ. Gambetta, and for the
blood of M. Grevy-his i'll balanced
mind capsized under the shocE-a
thirst for blood came upon him--a
thirst for the blood OF the bourgeois!
"lt is not this man should be con-
demned--it is the Commune!''
Murmurs ofapplause passed through
the courtroom. rybody felt that
the counsel for the defence had won
his case. The counsel for prosecution
did not even make an attempt to re-
ply:
Then the Judge put the usual formal
question to the accused:
prisoner, do you wish to say any
thing further in your own behalf?'
The man got up. He was of low
stature and frail aspect, with faxen-
fair-hair, and bright steady, gray eyes.
! A powerful, frank and sonorous voice
! burst from the chest Of the slender
youth, and immediately-with the
utterance of his very first words-he
entirely changed the opinion that the
audience had previously formed Of
| him.
He spoke loudly, and in declarnar
tory manner, but so clearly that
every syllable was plainly audible,
even at the further end OF the vast
court room.
"Your Honor as l 30 not wish to
be placed in q madhouse. and as /
would prefer even the gullotine, am
going to tell you all about this affair.
| II killed that man and woman be-
cause they were my parents
~"Now listen to me and Judge me.'
"A woman was secretly delivered of
q son and sent him far away, some
where, to q professional nurse. Did
she even know whittier her accomr1ice
bore the little innocent creature---in-
nocent, yet doomed to endless misery,
to worse than to death, since he was
abandoned. since the nurse, failing to
receive the monthly stipend, might,
as nurses oi:en. do, let the child waste
away. suffer from hunger, die from
neglect? III "sf'5@ sSss
! THE woman who 1lursed. me
was honest-more honest, more noble,
more OF q woman, more OF q
mother than my cWn mother. She